Octopus customer here - coming to the end of my fixed term in a month. What should I do?

What_time_is_it

Hi there.

My fixed term (12 months) energy contract with Octopus is coming to an end next month.
They've offered me another 12 month contract which is slightly higher than the current rates but might work out well over winter. I'm a bit out of the loop on the current forecasts for energy prices this winter so I'm not sure what to do for the best.

We use around 12,000 kwhs gas (pretty much all in Oct-Mar) and around 1,900 electricity (slightly, but not much, more in winter than in summer)

Been offered:
Gas - 29.04 standing charge / 5.49 unit rate
Electricity - 53.94 standing charge / 22.61 unit rate
Late August start for 12 months

We are in the East Midlands region.
We don't currently have smart meters, but not opposed to getting them if the Octopus agile (or whatever it is called?!) rates are worth doing instead.

What you you think?

tlcgrantham

According to gas tracker.uk in the East Midlands  on the July 24 v1 tariff gas tracker is averaging 4.8pkw/h and electricity 20.41pkw/h. Agile is averaging around 15pkw/h for me in the East Midlands after some load shifting. To get either you need a smart meter so why not accept your offer, book a smart meter and check rates when it’s fitted?

Netexporter

Get a smart meter, whatever you are going to do. Even if you are on a fixed deal you will then be able to take part in power saving sessions, for example, where you'll get paid for what you don't use at certain times.

If your priority is knowing what you will be paying for a period then a fixed deal would probably suit best, but you probably won't save anything significant compared to the SVT.

If saving money is your priority then the TOU tariffs, like Agile or Tracker, can save you significant amounts, especially if you can be a bit flexible in your usage. There is a bit of risk, if there is some sort of crisis that affects energy prices, but currently Agile is capped at £1/kWh, so you won't go bankrupt overnight. You can bail out SVT if the balloon does go up, but there may be conditions that will delay when you could go back again. You can also get paid to use electricity, with Agile, when prices go negative.

MP1995

tlcgrantham said:

According to gas tracker.uk in the East Midlands  on the July 24 v1 tariff gas tracker is averaging 4.8pkw/h and electricity 20.41pkw/h. Agile is averaging around 15pkw/h for me in the East Midlands after some load shifting. To get either you need a smart meter so why not accept your offer, book a smart meter and check rates when it’s fitted?

That's good to see people showing real life up to date tracker prices for the new July formula 

Nice one !

MP1995

What_time_is_it said:

Hi there.

My fixed term (12 months) energy contract with Octopus is coming to an end next month.
They've offered me another 12 month contract which is slightly higher than the current rates but might work out well over winter. I'm a bit out of the loop on the current forecasts for energy prices this winter so I'm not sure what to do for the best.

We use around 12,000 kwhs gas (pretty much all in Oct-Mar) and around 1,900 electricity (slightly, but not much, more in winter than in summer)

Been offered:
Gas - 29.04 standing charge / 5.49 unit rate
Electricity - 53.94 standing charge / 22.61 unit rate
Late August start for 12 months

We are in the East Midlands region.
We don't currently have smart meters, but not opposed to getting them if the Octopus agile (or whatever it is called?!) rates are worth doing instead.

What you you think?

If you don't want a smart meter but do want a fix get a quote from outfox the market as Octopus have never been the market leaders on fixes.

Smart meter time of use tariffs is where they are King in my book

What_time_is_it

Thanks all for the useful feedback.
Love this site!

bristolleedsfan

Risk of not taking fix now particularly gas is come winter fixes as well as tracker tariff might be higher.

bristolleedsfan

Netexporter said:

Get a smart meter, whatever you are going to do. Even if you are on a fixed deal you will then be able to take part in power saving sessions, for example, where you'll get paid for what you don't use at certain times.

Can you tell us more about that including the last time it occurred for a non DFS trial aka live event being as Octopus Power Ups currently only cover South East and East England and 

ESO winds down Demand Flexibility Service for coming winter

https://www.current-news.co.uk/eso-winds-down-demand-flexibility-service-for-coming-winter/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3SRgzmn6FSCXPqpa45opKdkWnuX38wh-kvBp0VXOGtG8DR_vdDyna3k_g_aem_4iiAzQR88qJwvH6gKtb3DA

The ESO has predicted that this winter, the excess electricity it will be able to call on in a cold spell will be higher than last year, meaning the requirement for the DFS as a contingency will be reduced. As such, the ESO does not intend to use the DFS this winter. However, it has announced that it plans to expand an evolved version of the service all year round to balance the grid during periods of high demand

bob2302

Get a smart meter and install the octopus compare app, which allows you to compare costs based on actual usage.